VIDEONOTES: ‘A Facebook Exchange′ presented by THIRD EYE CABARET, a production of the Web Theater of WestVirginiaVille.com.SOUNDTRACK: “West Virginia Wakes Up” by Treehouse Recordings, an excerpt from a 30-minute recording of the sound of birdsong in the deep West Virginia woods as dawn returned one day.

It was a decades-long tradition in my family – the youngest among us who could walk would deliver the porcelain baby Jesus on Christmas Eve to a porcelain bed of straw in the Christmas creche in our house. It was always a sacred moment for my mother, a continuity, a handing-down of tradition. My mother and father are long gone, but the tradition has continued in the family. So, it was that my older brother brought the porcelain manger figures to our large holiday family gathering to re-enact the ritual. But wait! Baby Jesus had accidentally been left behind. What to do? What to do? Suddenly, there was a woof-woof from one of the many schnausers my brother and his wife have raised through the years. Hmmm ….

I created this video for an event honoring the Winter Solstice, called The Solstice Ball. Consider it my unconventional seasonal greetings to you, a bit of meditative, ruminative imagery and music, titled “Light Show,” featuring a soundtrack by The Silent Gondoliers. May your year end well, and the new year contain much harmony.

“Ken,” I had said, reaching him via cellphone the day before the fitting. “I’m playing at a performance art wedding this weekend between former porn star Annie Sprinkle and her professor-artist wife from West Virginia, Elizabeth Stephens. You’re supposed to wear purple. Can you help?” …

My work has yet, alas, to make it to the New York Times. But I’m glad to report one of my songs is currently mentioned in a New York Times blog, “Paper Cuts: A Blog About Books.” That’s a start. I got an e-mail yesterday from a writer named Bill Peschel who has a new book out with a title nearly worth the price of admission: “Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics, and Follies of Literature’s Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts, and Misanthropes.” In an e-mail, Peschel explained that he compiled a suggested mix tape to go along with the book, and a web search turned up my song, “I Never Slept With Allen Ginsberg,” from the “Saint Stephen’s Dream” CD I did some years back with Bob Webb (under the band name “garagecow ensemble).

“With the book being a collection of stories about the highs and lows in the lives of writers,” says Peschel, “it seemed appropriate to suggest a mix CD of songs inspired by writers. Here’s the roster I came up with.”

1. “Edgar Allan Poe” / Lou Reed

2. “Raymond Chandler Said” / Michael Anderson

3. “I Never Slept With Allen Ginsberg” / Garagecow Ensemble

4. “John Allyn Smith Sails” / Okkervil River

5. “Mercy Street” / Peter Gabriel

6. “Sylvia Plath” / Ryan Adams

7. “Bukowski” / Modest Mouse

8. “Lorca’s Novena” / The Pogues

9. “Hemingway’s Whiskey” / Kenny Chesney

10. “The Cult of Ray” / Frank Black

11. “Hey Jack Kerouac” / 10,000 Manaics

12. “I Got Laid on James Joyce’s Grave” / Black 47

I was, of course, delighted to be invited to such a fine party, as well as being introduced to one of the finest song titles ever: “I Got Laid on James Joyce’s Grave.” Now, that’s pop music. P.S. – The Times blog misspells Ginsberg’s name in my song title. Welcome to 21st century online editing.

Encountering former porn star Annie Sprinkle in an Indian restaurant in downtown Charleston, W.Va., she and her West Virginia native wife reveal their upcoming Purple Wedding to the Mountains. And your intrepid narrator bags an opening gig to the event.| READ ON …

Here’s a quick take video slideshow by your faithful citizen of WestVirginiaVille, standing amid the huddled, laughing masses at the Rally to Restore Sanity held today in Washington, D.C., hosted by the inimitable Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Below are still photos of some of the many clever signs. Feel free to click them up large and embed them on your own site and share them around, with the caveat that you please include the following line (or even better as a live link back to http://westvirginiaville.com): Photo courtesy of WestVirginiaVille.com